Joseph Jackson was one of the millions of Americans inspired by Barack Obama's
2008 White House bid. A black man in the nation's whitest state, he
coordinated voter registration drives and cast his first-ever ballot for
the candidate who would become the nation's first African-American
president.
And he did it all while incarcerated in a maximum-security prison, serving 19 years for manslaughter.
That's because Jackson, 52, was convicted in
Maine, one of just two states that allow felons to vote from behind
bars. In the U.S., nearly all convicted felons are disenfranchised
during their prison sentences and, often, barred from the ballot for
years after release. Sometimes, offenders lose the right to vote for life.
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Source: NBC News
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